Where to invest?

[scamper]

Should one's (elderly) parents really be considering shares???

There's an old rule of thumb: 100 minus age is a prudent percentage for equities.
I think the rationale is that the older one is, the less time you have for the market to recover, should it slump.
I've recently been horrified that my beloved aged parent shoved 50% of something into equities.
Would like to wring the broker's snout or something.

So, from rule of thumb, if the parents are 80 or so, only 20% of the dosh should be in shares.
Besides, i sense rocky global times ahead, term deposits seem a good idea. Cheers.

[777]

Damn. Now I will have to sell some. Or lie about my age.

Actually scamper that rule of thumb is probably quite prudent for those who do not actively follow the market.

[ENP]

RYM, POT and SKT.

Everything else is too inconsistent in it's annual reports to predict anything.

Telecom, Contact, Auckland Airport, Air NZ.... Rubbish.

[Joshuatree]

Buns, I spent a large part of my working life sorting out people who do not reduce their discretionary spending when times get tough - on behalf of the Courts. Many had made off with other peoples cash and from the case histories that I,and others had to write, casinos do well in hard times.Its a fairly well known fact of criminal psychology. I bought my SKC shares a couple or three months ago for 323cps and they are now335cps, an increase of 3.5%

And now youre doing the same craic making off with other peoples cash that have made off with other peoples cash. Are you too aCriminal by default?

[craic]

No, just as the Lawyer who takes their money to defend them or the whole range of people who make a living out of dealing with crime.

[modandm]

i agree with other posters saying that less than 20% of a aged persons portfolio should be in NZ shares. Maybe some aussie shares too to make 30% together. Although shares have more risk at times like these with low pe and decent dividends imho now is the time to buy.

I dislike all of percy's picks for various reasons and my picks would be

Infratil - or IFTHA - I like IFTHA alot.
SkyCity
AIA
Telecom
Fletcher Building

- With these you have some long term investments that you can forget about and enjoy the income. It doesn't sound as though your parents will be following the market closely enough to buy anything smaller or less blue chip.


then look at aussie blue chips and quality income securities

[voltage]

the problems with asx dividend stocks is that you pay tax on dividends twice. Perhaps look at global companies that pay over 5% dividend like vodafone etc. No more tax to pay

[Gonzo]

Could I ask why you like IFTHA? I have a truckload of the ords -are the bonds less risky

[macduffy]

My parents are hardly elderly, my father isnt even retired yet. And I'm pretty sure they are 0% invested in the market at the moment, so anything tucked away in the market is a good start. I was tending towards RYM in the first instance, I'm just looking to see if anything else is better.

I qualify as an "elderly parent" and am happy to say that I'm still almost 50% invested in equities, admittedly a fair chunk of them Australian. A lot of them have been held for several/many years but I hate to think what the effect of inflation would have been on my capital if I hadn't bought BHP at $10, EBO at $3, ANZ at $5 etc. There's no rule that says older people can't hold a proportion of equities, IMO, just a matter of being prudent about it. Bridgecorp? Lombard? any takers?

[h2so4]

At 60yrs young and not retired he still has 30+ years of investing to do.

May as well get started.

60 years is a guess or did I read that somewhere?